Legendary comic Jimmy Cricket ‘gave it some welly’ during his visit to Spain, taking in gigs in Orihuela, Quesada, Mazarron and Benidorm.
“Come here, there’s More,” said Jimmy, famous for his R (right) and L (left) Wellington boots, who is on his 50th Anniversary tour in Showbusiness.
Born in County Tyrone his early career took in Pontin’s and Butlin’s holiday camps, with Jimmy reflecting on his days at Pontin’s in Southport.
“I look back on my early years, working at both Pontin’s and Butlin’s,” he said.
Late billionaire Trevor Hemmings, who died suddenly in October 2021, aged 86, twice owned Pontin’s.
He led a management buyout in 1987 before selling it to brewer Scottish & Newcastle. In 2000 Hemmings bought back the business, selling it eight years later to a management team.
“Trevor was wonderful – and the days at Pontin’s holiday camp in Southport were incredible. The years have flown by,” said Jimmy.
Jimmy, who appeared on the bill at the Variety Show ‘Sunday Night at The Grand’ in Blackpool on March 5th after his shows at The Emerald Isle, La Florida, Orihuela, Cooper’s Arms, Quesada, and Don Pancho Hotel, Benidorm, said: “I was a Red Coat, along with Harry Worth in 1969 and I parked his Rolls Royce!”.
Jimmy performed a juggling act and played a tin whistle during his shows in Spain.
“Do you know my neighbour loves me playing the tin whistle? So much so, he smashed his window so he could hear me better!,” he joked.
Jimmy, who had TV series and radio shows in the 70s and 80s, said: “I also remember playing at the Birmingham Hippodrome, where Cilla Black was on the bill.”
On family life, he said: “I’m from Cookstown, County Tyrone, my father had a bar – and was an Undertaker as well.
“My Mammy went to Belfast to have me – and we returned to Cookstown – but moved to Belfast, when I was aged 2.
“I had three older brothers, and an older sister and my parents bought a grocery shop.”
Jimmy, speaking about his dad, quipped: “I remember I said to my dad when I returned from school one day: ‘Dad, I’m no good at arithmetic – and he said don’t worry son, that makes three of us’ “.
Jimmy, who was presented to Princess Margaret at a Royal Variety Show, also appeared on TVs ‘This Is Your Life’ in the 1980s presented by Eamon Andrews.
“What surprised me, I was at a building site and who was there?, Eamon Andrews – with a tin hat on!
“Tonight, Jimmy Cricket, This Is Your Life, he said. I was gobsmacked, and never knew anything about what was about to happen.”
Jimmy, married to wife May for almost 50 years, has published his biography ‘Memoirs of an Irish comedian Jimmy Cricket – Come Here There’s More’: “The book covers all my life, from being a Red Coat at Butlin’s, right up to the present,” said Jimmy.
*And There’s More from Jimmy Cricket with Andrew Atkinson’s Leader Exclusive next week.
